Increase Email Engagement Using These 7 Tips – Plus 1 Bonus Tip –

Savvy advertisers know… size doesn’t matter.  In email marketing, list owners who have the most actively engaged subscribers get the best advertisers, have the best revenues and enjoy the biggest profits, regardless of list size.

On an apples to apples basis, a list of 100k subs with an average open rate of 20% is better than a list of 200k subs with an average open rate of 10%.

Why?

Advertisers put their money where a specific set of eyeballs are.  They don’t simply rely on their creatives, no matter how hot, to get the job done.  Although 200K is far more eyeballs than 100k, they’re hunting for those eyeballs that open emails and act… and don’t want to pay for subject line scanners and deletes.  They want engagement.

They know that list A with a 20% open rate has engaged readers…

While comparatively, list B with a 10% open rate really doesn’t.  Even though both lists average 20k opens.

It’s the 20k opens from list A that are more likely to click on offers.  Why?  They enjoy the regular content twice as much as list B does.  They engage!

Now, even if you don’t accept outside offers or advertisements, increasing email engagement can boost your internal sales and marketing efforts.  Having actively engaged subscribers can turn even the smallest list into a revenue generating machine.  It’s why increasing email engagement is so important.

7 Tips to Increase Email Engagement

1. Don’t always send promotional content. Imagine watching TV and all you see are commercials.  Your favorite program never comes on… just ad after ad after ad.  What would you do?  Turn the channel, of course.  Email subscribers are no different.  When they open an email, they expect content.  So send non-promotional content more often than you send advertisements.
2. Speaking of content… Make sure your content is fun, informative and enjoyable to read.  If you view your subscribers simply as useful to YOU, they’ll stop engaging and leave.  You need to be useful to THEM.  Your regular content should not only be enjoyable, but useful.  Tell stories that your subscribers can not only relate to, but can learn something new from.  And let them learn it for free.
3. Subject lines matter, and clickbait will anger your subscribers. Your subject lines should be crafty and eyepopping, but not full of baloney.  When opening an inbox, consumers will scan subject lines to find something interesting.  You’ve only got a second or two to catch their eye.  So catch it.  But you’d better be sure to have great content that matches that subject line.  Trick them with clickbait and you can bet they’ll never be back… or worse, they hit the SPAM button.
4. Design and templates matter. You want to make sure your email design and template are attractive and easy to read through.  Your colors and images should not only match the days content, but should be consistent with your branding efforts.  Add GIFs and images in logical spots that don’t ruin the copy flow.  And your copy should be designed in a matter that makes it easily digestible.  Don’t use large blocks of copy, instead break it up into smaller paragraphs.  If you have a 1,000 word story or article, don’t tell the whole story in the email… leave some for the clickthrough.
5. Which brings us to this: Have something to engage with. An email with no clickable links is a bad email.  Be sure you’re giving your subscribers something to click on.  Whether it be a link to “the rest of the story” or a button that takes them to a video on your website, give them something to click on.  Engage them with polls, questionnaires and free downloads.  You can increase email engagement if you give them something fun or informative to click on and engage with.
6. Segment your email lists. If your email efforts span multiple verticals, be sure you’ve segmented your lists to match.  Subscribers will engage with content that matters to them.  Sending content or offers to subscribers who are not in-demo will not only result in poor engagement, but you could ultimately lose those subscribers all together.  Keep your messages and offers tailored to your segments.
7. Personalize your emails. Greet your subscribers using their name.  People will engage more when they are addressed personally.  So If your email data has first names, use them.  If not,  EmailOversight offers data enrichment tools that can match names to email addresses.  When you know your subscribers first name, and use it in your emails, you’ll find engagement rises significantly.  And with it, your revenue.

Bonus Tip #8

Yes, the technical work involved in email marketing can be mind-numbing.  So, in order to segment your lists, send targeted emails and measure your campaigns effectiveness, you need to use email marketing automation.  EmailOversight offers you not just advanced email marketing campaign automation, but removes all the technical headaches you may experience.

In fact, EmailOversight not only eliminates the time-consuming technical work, but can help you track and increase your customers’ engagement.  And it’s engagement that pays!

You see, we can identify subscriber or user activity through web and email based metrics.  These insights can help improve and monetize your email lists and websites.

With EmailOversight, you can increase email engagement, boost revenues and, most importantly, identify the hidden profit potential in your lists.